Night Before Revolution
by Melice
Summary: Razorbeard is back, to conquer Rayman's world and to take revenge on him. Will Rayman be able to stop him once again? (Be forewarned, my Rayman world may be different from the original one...)


Night Before Revolution

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DISCLAIMER: 

Rayman and related characters are (c) UbiSoft/Michel Ancel/Frederic Houde. 

The rest of the characters is mine, they escaped my dark imagination, and so:

Cookie, Pyro, Crystal, Tenebrae and Stix are (c) Irina Korshevnyuk.

The story takes place after the events of Rayman 2, and I do not consider Rayman 3, because I dislike both the story and the kind the characters' personalities are shown there...

Well, here we go… ^_^

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Prologue

Mirrors broken

Powers faded

Trails forgotten

Strangers hated

Living in a world

Dived into shadows

Is there something

That still matters?!

Never asking

No resisting

Keep on hunting

Things seem twisted

Anything not fitting

Into scheme

Twisted is

Outside and within

Never daring

Just escaping

Losing ways

And always paining

Living in a world

Without emotions

Are there still things

We should live for?

-------------------

"Any last words?"

He was watching her, with his head cocked, apparently slightly amused, although he still remained serious. 

Maybe wondering what she might answer.

Or maybe still celebrating his own triumph in mind. 

She slowly turned around, as if she was trying to brand the memory of the meadow into her memories, a picture postcard from a paradise to which she will never return any more. 

Somehow, the whole situation seemed unreal. Normally, she couldn't have held back the tears, but the disbelief of reality, the hope, that she was just dreaming, was too strong, and so it was of use to block the overwhelming emotions. 

Just a few minutes before, she was standing at the same place, picking the blue shining flowers for Pyro he liked so much, wondering what he might say and whether he would share his knowledge of plants with her someday. 

The pirate chuckled, a smile spread across his face, and he made a short movement toward her. Her instinct pushed her immediately to avoid any contact to him, but making any attempts to jerk away was no use.

She was still tied up loosely so she still could free herself or at least move unrestrained, if she had the strength to, sitting on the grass, warmed up by the summer heat and caressed by the last sunbeams of the leaving day.

The Day. 

Her mind couldn't digest all of the happenings of that afternoon and so she went completely blank, her thoughts straying, absolutely out of control.

Painfully recalling every day she spent on that planet, the first days when she woke up at night, because she thought she heard the _engines_ again.

And then, a soothing paw on her shoulder, followed by relief.

She arrived there, exhausted, wounded, escaping certain enslavement, she had no place to go, she didn't have anyone to care for her. First, she had to learn to trust. Now, she had to learn to mistrust, once again. 

The pain shot through her mind, like an arrow. 

She realised that she couldn't escape any more. It wasn't the fact that there was no safe place in the universe she could escape at without being re-caught, the pirates would come one day for sure, there was no power that could stop them. But it wasn't the main reason. It was just the thought that it was no use to escape. Everything would be just the same, they would find her, maybe punish her harder than the last time, and she was too weary. 

Actually, she could break down right there, but the sudden shock had increased her adrenaline level, and so she felt unnaturally alert. 

She rose her eyes to the sky. The night fell over the meadow, it was a beautiful night and the sky was had a deep, cobalt blue shade, the moonlight looking like milk that was spilt over the sky.

There were nearly no sounds, just the leaves rustling in the wind.

'I'm sorry... I had to.' The soft, calm voice, escaping her recollection and bursting into her mind, had caused a sudden wave of psychical pain, which made her wince. 

There were no easy decisions.

Neither his nor hers. 

And she finally decided to give in, not to struggle, just to let them do their thing. Maybe the easiest way, after all.

Somebody's shadow fell on her. 

"Kitsune!"

Kitsune smiled, a small, satisfied, cruel smile.

"Don't call me Kitsune... You know my given name as well. We've been friends once, and so I suggest you'd rather treat me with more sincerity."

"I remember," she stated flatly. "How much?"

"Huh? What do you mean, how much?" Kitsune asked, slightly irritated. 

"How much do you get. For me. You know, the bounty they put on my head on Cyrus." 

These words, so simple, apparently had touched Kitsune in an unpleasant way, but she regained self-control amazingly quickly. "Do you mean the priorities I got or the cash your dear friends here swiped?" She smiled, her pearly white teeth in a grin of malicious glee. 

The last statement came out of the blue, and she couldn't take it any longer.

She expected to hear anything, but not that. Kitsune knew her very well. Too well, actually.

With the last, titanic effort, she made a sudden movement, the ropes cutting into her flesh, and attacked her superior tormentor with her claws.

Kitsune shrank back from her, holding her face. "You realize what you just did, don't you?! You may have spoiled my beauty, moron!" 

Still holding her face, Kitsune darted a glance of hatred to her captured rival.

All of a sudden, she giggled, holding her whip up. "I'd like to let you feel the pain I felt. Who do you think you are, anyway? Being a bounty hunter under pirates' orders wasn't exactly easy. I went through Hell to find you. But oh, you were always supposed to be so special..."  

The sound of a whip cut up the silence of the evening.

"Nothing is for an eternity, just as friends aren't. But I hope, our friendship might last longer..."

She bit her lips to stop the rising tears...

"Oh, I see, you aren't in a talkative mood today. Feeling sad? I thought you should be happy to meet your old friends. By the way, look who came to our little class reunion."

She didn't raise her head. She didn't even wipe the blood off her body. 

A soft voice, a voice she knew so well echoed, now so real.

"I... I'm sorry... You know I am."

Pyro...

She couldn't stop thinking of him all the time, and now he stood there, right in front of her. This time not a product of her imagination but the real Pyro, so vivid, so strong in her memories, was now pale, nervous, standing aghast.

Pyro, who always had been the superior one, couldn't dare to meet her eyes. 

"Razorbeard told me. He said, you offered yourself instead, but he said he would only release Tenebrae if he could take me for her."

His body jerked, his eyes widened.

"No... it's not that! I didn't trade you for Tenebrae! He said, he wouldn't hurt you! He promised me to let you go after he would get from you something you keep, he said... If I hadn't agreed, that bounty hunter would have killed Tenebrae..."

Under usual circumstances, she would have been surprised by his torrent of words, being used to his taciturn attitude. But now...

A synthetically metallic, wicked laugh scattered the night, and a silhouette separated from the shadows. 

"Of course I will, little Pyro! After I have taken all of the powers she keeps within! I hope you have been a good teacher and you helped her to improve her skills."

"You!" Pyro yelled, but fell on the grass, being slapped by Kitsune's whip. "You said you just wanted to take some gadget of hers!"

"Ever the credulous, my dear." Kitsune smiled. "But, it's getting late. We should take off, before the stars rise."

The way to the ship seemed astonishingly long. She didn't look back, not once. She knew, Pyro was standing there, and she knew she would probably never see him again. 

But once she had to leave something - or someone behind, she wouldn't look back.

This planet, its comforting, soft air breeze, the stars of the constellation of "Wise Fairy" above - she will be separated from this - forever.  

One single tear escaped the edge of her eye, when she was standing between the two stages of her life, running down her cheek. 

Thousands of light years away, a guardian of his planet, called Rayman, woke up, sitting alert in his bed, gasping. 

1. After Victory

"You can't ever imagine how happy I am, that everything ended like that! We nearly believed you dead." Ly laughed at Rayman, who was completely exhausted, but happy, encircled by his friends he missed unendurably, especially Globox and Ly. 

He glanced up to the sky and watched the fireworks, colouring the sky magenta, yellow, orange and then light blue. "Guys, I've missed you all..." He whispered, unable to express his vanishing sorrow and tears he held back until this special moment. He put his arms around Globox and Ly, and hid his face, so nobody could see how he felt now. But it wasn't necessary, for his friends felt the same, and the pain, ripping their hearts apart believing he was dead, was now slowly dissolving, like the last sunshine before Razorbeard disappeared.

The night came silently, like always.

He was standing there, illuminated by the bright reflexes of the fireworks, the happiest person in the world. The fight with Razorbeard seemed like a bad dream, now gone for long. An event that might have happened to someone else, years ago. Now, he was again Rayman, the one, who was living to live his life, not to survive.

Looking back, he realised that he could only fulfil his mission because he never stopped thinking of his friends. He never thought of what might happen, if he failed, because he was simply not allowed to.  For if he failed, they were condemned.

"Tonight, we are celebrating you, Rayman." Ly interrupted his thoughts, smiling. "You are the one, who saved us all from Razorbeard. You can be proud of yourself. Now, the Heart of the World is unified again, and you need a rest. Who knows, what a new tomorrow will bring?" He smiled at her, feeling that great wave of happiness that filled his heart any time he accompanied his friends.

The inhabitants of this World could sleep without any worries that night.

It was a silent night, with the moon shining bright. There were no sounds, except for the crickets' rustling, which was quite relaxing after the noise of the fireworks. 

Somehow, Rayman managed to arrive at his hut, and collapsed into the hammock, absolutely exhausted but satisfied. He could still hear the voices of his friends leaving outside, who walked along with him to his home. He was lying dormant, his eyes fixed on the grey, wooden ceiling, although he didn't really watch it. In front of his eyes, pictures were shifting. "Never..." he murmured softly. "I'll never let you do that again to them..."

There must have been a thunderstorm that night. At least, Rayman thought so. Lying there with his eyes closed, he was floating somewhere between the condition of being asleep and being awake, he couldn't really tell what was going on outside of his hut. The Dream was so gentle. He almost could feel the heavy raindrops on the wooden roof of the hut. He was used to it, for the part of the forest he was living in was lying next to the seaside. Somehow he didn't care for anything, as long as the raindrops were playing their muffled melody on his hut's roof, like now. Raindrops, like heavy tears. Tiny crystals, and each one of them told him its story before it was scattered on the surface of the roof, being as fragile as the condition of doze itself.     

Suddenly, there was the darkness. 

He was sitting on his bed, gasping, sweating. Stirring at the black walls, of course no success at making out something for some moments. It took him several minutes to realise that he was lying in his hammock, in his hut. Excited, even shocked without any obvious reason. Too weary to argue with his mind, he dropped back closing his eyes.

"You'll be okay..." he murmured, whatever he meant, and fell asleep, once again. 

The breakfast was a special event this time, and everyone was looking forward to it.  Before Razorbeard took over, Rayman and Ly sometimes joined Globox at his home for breakfast. Rayman cherished those shared meals. He never realised why, but he simply enjoyed the familiar atmosphere amongst Globox' family and the cozy interior of the rather big kitchen. Razorbeard scattered the ties of this family once, and this was going to become their first joint breakfast since they were together again. But also in the peaceful time Globox had a lot of family stuff to deal with (mostly the education of his children, one of them started to munch his newspaper every morning before he read it), Rayman remarked, and smiled. Being a father of 650 children was apparently a rough matter. 

Globox knew his friend wouldn't appreciate if he praised him as a hero in front of his entire family after the yesterday's party, but he still thought of something delightful for his mate.

As soon as everyone has taken his place, the wooden door opened, and Uglette, Globox' wife, appeared carrying a metallic plate, with a giant gateau set on it. She put the plate down exactly in front of Rayman, smiling and expecting his reaction toward this masterpiece of the art of baking, with great light blue candy flowers with hazels as the core.

Rayman was sitting there lost in thought. Then, his attention was drawn to the gateau, his eyes widened, and he smiled. "Wow, that looks great! Thank you all!"

Uglette distributed the pieces of the gateau, and then there was silence, accompanied by the chewing and munching sounds of the kids.

Rayman caught himself idly poking his piece with a teaspoon, when he met Ly's eyes. Caught off-guard, Rayman blinked, suddenly realising that everybody was looking at him, and pushed a large piece of cake into his mouth, trying to hide his embarrassment.

"You won't try to tell me you're OK, right? You know I won't take the bait." Ly said, watching her companion closely.

The big, bright-coloured butterflies danced in the morning light, and the meadow was as green as an emerald. 

"Well... Actually, I'm OK. I'm just a bit dizzy. I just remembered the last night's dream. Maybe it's just the rain, I wouldn't bother." Rayman answered idly, observing one of the butterflies.

"Weird dream? What was it about?"

Rayman noticed the fairy was looking quite interested.

"Hm, going into fortune telling, Ly?", he chuckled softly, eyeing his friend. "Oh Rayman, you should take it seriously. If you were a fairy, you wouldn't make fun of such things. I mean... there are dreams which have no special meaning, but there are also some which need to be considered..."

He nodded. "I understand."

"Well...", he stared into space. "To be honest, I do not remember. It had a certain atmosphere, a sensation of something... something..."

He couldn't find any words to explain his idea.

"You know Ly, like a hurricane coming out of the blue..." he made a gesture with his hands, plagued by impatience caused by the incapability to express what he wanted to in that very special moment.

"I had this weird feeling all the day, but I didn't know where it came from, but then, I remembered."

Ly took his hand.

"When you remember the details, be sure to tell me. I would like to listen to it. Out of pure interest." 

"Seriously, Ly, it was only a dream! Maybe a weird dream, but what's in a dream? You know, the happenings of the last months were incredibly stressing, and so I could imagine I will need my time to get the experiences I made off my mind. As far as I'm concerned, I'm satisfied with the way it turned out."

Ly nodded.

"So am I, Rayman, so am I..."

They were sitting there for a while silently, apparently accepting the end of the discussion.

Rayman's eyes met Ly's gaze, and Rayman gave her a charming smile, like often when they happened to look into each other's face.

Rayman's next question was unexpected.

"Ly... have you ever seen light blue flowers? Like vivid gems?"

"Flowers like vivid gems? Why are you asking?"

"No special reason. I just wondered, whether there could be such plants. Transparent, light blue, with shining blossoms."

"Your description is a little too close to a type of flower, which really exists, to be a fictitious statement." Ly's lips curved in amusement.

"There are indeed such flowers, as you say, and they are called 'The Tears of Glory'." 

Noticing Rayman's startled look, she continued.

"Perhaps you wonder where the name came from? An ancient legend, which is passed on only amongst the fairies and is at least as old as our World is, tells, that the Tears of Glory are symbolising the peace and happiness in our world."

She lanced a look straight into Rayman's eyes.

"Did you ever asked yourself, how our World was established the very first time?"

"Established...?"

"Exactly. Our World is a planet, but it's only one of the 'superficial' points. Of course there's more information like our flora and fauna, our seasons, the differences between the radiation angles of the sun. I could come up with more. But there are also things, which cannot be really considered as a scientifically proven information. There are legends, Rayman... Legends with misty explanations, but they have gone through centuries, and fairies like me still believe in them. We all know, that the Primordial Energy Core serves as the main energy source of our World... And then Razorbeard appeared, and scattered it. I was deprived of my powers, absolutely helpless. You see, each fairy has her own task, and there are bonds which connect her with her duty, and my duty is to contribute to the "perfection" of our World. That's why I couldn't survive, once separated from this planet. And the World would be weakened with my death..."

Shocked, Rayman grabbed her hand, he turned his face to her, his pure, blue eyes wide with desperation. "You shouldn't say such things, Ly! You are not allowed to die... I--- I would ... never let you!"

Ly's surprise was evident. First, she didn't know what to say, how to react at Rayman's emotional outburst... He seemed so startled by her words... almost wounded.

She took his hand firmly in hers. "It's okay, I won't go, Rayman. But you know, there have been fairies who have laid down their lives to fulfil their duty. 

There's a legend, which says that a fairy's spirit cannot be absolutely wiped out, except for the ones, who have sacrificed their lives for noble aims. Such a fairy cannot be reborn. The tears of such a fairy, when they touch the ground... then wonderful flowers are born: the Tears of Glory."

Rayman didn't dare to breathe, he was concentrated upon the story Ly was telling so much that he didn't care for anything else.

"They can heal any disease, they grant you special powers... And they are supposed to be the most beautiful thing on earth. The Primordial Energy Core hasn't been always that strong. The Lumz are actually tiny living beings, and they take up a lot of space. But once united in the Energy Core, they may be more powerful than ever. 

Fairies believe that it was the Tears of Glory which helped to unite them... an eternity ago.

Rayman, lost in thought, watched the meadow.

"Have you ever seen them?"

"The Lumz?"

"No... the flowers. Tears of... er... Glory."

"No. As long as I live, I've never have seen them."

"And do you believe..."

"I don't know, Rayman.

They were sitting silently for a while. 

The sun had already reached the zenith, and Ly wondered, whether they should go back now, because of Rayman's meeting with Globox.

They usually met on sunny days, and went together to the beach. Sometimes, Ly accompanied them, but there were times where she simply couldn't afford to. After all, she was a fairy and had to stay and keep peace in the forest.

When she turned her head and watched Rayman, sitting next to her, she suddenly realized that something was wrong.

He was looking, disturbed, angry for some reason, clenching his fists.

"Rayman, are you okay?"

"...I think... it's wrong!" He jumped up. "It's just wrong to sacrifice someone... even when it's only one single person! I have been at war, Ly. I know what death means. Do you really think someone would offer his life voluntarily?! I'd never let him!"

Because of his excitement, the words came gushing out, and some strands of his blond hair were covering his eyes. 

Before Ly could say something, explain to him the meaning of a mentality which had survived dozens of lifetimes like his, he was gone.

Sometimes he disappeared like that without a word, and she only noticed his absence after a while. He knew she wouldn't appreciate it if he disturbed her meditation.

But now, it was different.

Ly sighed. He was still so innocent. It was hardly believable that he went though months of war, and still didn't lose his humour, his kindness... His ability to consider the World from the enlightened side.

But there were things he would never be able to cope with.

Things only a fairy would understand.

END OF CHAPTER 1.

Melice: Ha! I did it! After a year of hard working...

Rayman (suddenly appears out of nowhere): Hard working?! You've been _playing_ all the time! 

Melice: ~_~ Well... that's what I call "researches", you know...

Rayman: And you still didn't beat "Rayman 3", shame on you!

Melice: Well, you know the stuff: I have to work on my graduation...

Rayman:  By the way, what kind of a person do you think I am?! People are going to think that I'm _pathetic_, when they read that! I do not freak out and then run away!!! It's out of charac-

Melice: (gags Rayman and goes back to her desk): Ehehe... ^_^;; Errr... And now, curtain up for the next part!!

Rayman: ~_~

I hope there will be at least a couple of people who will enjoy that... Oh well... Anyone who wants to tell me something about the story, don't be afraid to drop me some lines... I'd appreciate it! ^_^

Melice5@gmx.net

I'm not quite sure whether I'll be able to answer your comments on Fanfiction.Net, so anyone who wants an answer should mail me.

Rayman: If you do, she'll either answer in months or blather you to death!

Melice: I already said that I'm a hard-working student.

Rayman: ::innocently:: Are you studying video games?

Melice: ::sigh:: How can you argue with logic like THAT? u_u;;


End file.
